Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

I've been Cubmaster for almost 2 yrs now and I love it! Last year we ran the Pinewood Derby and it was a nightmare!! This year I thought I'd take it easy and run the Raingutter Regatta instead. It's turning out to be quite a bit of work too. We will have our Regatta the second Thursday in May. The boys already have the boats and I have a packet of rules and tips for the kids. I found it online somewhere, downloaded it, and edited it to fit our Pack's needs. We only have 8 boys in the Pack so I don't think it should take long. We decided to go with a triple elimination and found an example of how to do that. We have already practiced writing names down in the correct spots so I think we're good there.

Now I'm to the hard part. What kind of decorations did you do? I was thinking of getting some blue butcher paper and making waves to put up around the rain gutters. We are going to have a baby pool be the marina and also have a dockyard where any adjustments to the boats may be made. We will also have a few spare boats there just in case. We have a check in time and a race time and have already specified that if the kids are later than the race start time, they will not race. We gave them plenty of time to get there. I'm just tired of working so hard and my family barely getting to eat anything before Pack Meeting because we're rushing out the door to get everything set up and ready by 7pm, only to have the families show up around 7:15-7:30pm.

Did any of the Cubmasters dress up? Did you have decorations up? Is there something I might be overlooking?

We have a blast with our raingutter. Typically, The Cubmaster and ACM wear a navy cap. All of the officials wear the folded cloth sailor caps and we have someone in our Pack that owns a pirate costume and wears it.

We usually run ours in late September/early October as a kick-off even for the year.

Currently our Pack has the Raingutter then, Pinewood Derby in February, and then Space Derby in May to close out our year right before Spring Campout.